


Kindness Repaid

by Islair



Category: The Emperor's Edge Series - Lindsay Buroker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 05:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11570913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Islair/pseuds/Islair





	Kindness Repaid

The juniors run, as the deadly assassin Sicarius cuts his way through the engineering crew with brutal efficiency.

The chief engineer pulls out his sword and grimly takes a stand to protect his young apprentices.

The assassin turns to strike, but at the last moment he meets the engineer's eyes, and turns the deadly blow aside.

Sicarius stops, facing the chief engineer. The silent harbinger of death speaks. "I recognise you. You were kind to me once, when I was a child."

The chief engineer's eyes widen. "You were the boy?" he says. "The day before I was posted out here to the middle of nowhere to rot, there was a blond boy who was curious about the steam engines."

The assassin nods. "But Hollowcrest caught me and I was punished. He sent you away, so I could not seek you out again and become attached."

"That was my crime? Common courtesy and kindness to a child?" The chief engineer is outraged at the pettiness that had led Hollowcrest to deliberately ruin a promising career over such a thing.

"Yes. Kindness towards me was not encouraged." The assassin pauses briefly, considering. "Barricade yourselves in the next chamber, and do not impede me in the completion of my mission."

The assassin turns and walks away. An act of kindness is repaid.


End file.
